Lesson 8-9 PDF

1  LESSON 8 The Global City LEARNING OUTCOMES: At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:  Identify the attributes of a global city.  Analyze how cities serve as engines of gl...

1  LESSON 8 The Global City LEARNING OUTCOMES: At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:  Identify the attributes of a global city.  Analyze how cities serve as engines of globalization. ABSTRACTION Why Study Global Cities? Much of the preceding lessons analysis of globalization has focused on how notions of internationalism affected modern world politics. We also looked at how cultural movements such as K-pop spread through the media, particularly through the internet. This lesson, however, will underline the fact that globalization is a spatial phenomenon. This statement can be interpreted in two ways. First, globalization is spatial because it takes place in actual spaces. When international investments and capital flow through a city and when business construct towers, one can see it. People working in these industries, as well as Filipinos working abroad, are beginning to buy or rent high-rise condominium units and nicer and larger homes. As a result of all of these occurrences, more poor people are being displaced from city centers to make way new developments. Second, globalization is spatial, as it is based in places, which is what propels it forward. Los Angeles, the birthplace of Hollywood, is where films are produced for worldwide distribution. The main headquarters of Sony is in Tokyo, and from there, the company coordinates the sale of its various electronic goods to branches across the world. To put it another way, cities influence globalization and globalization influences cities. They are both the locations and the conduits of globalization. Just as the Internet enables and shapes global forces, so too do cities. In the years to come, more and more people will experience globalization through cities. 2 In 1950, only 30% of the world lived in urban areas. By 2014, that number increased to 54%. Then, by 2050, it is expected to reach 66%. This lesson examines globalization through the lens of a rapidly growing population's living environment. Defining the Global City In the 1990s, sociologist Saskia Sassen popularized the concept "global city" her definition of a global city was mostly based on economic factors. She began her research by identifying three major cities New York, London, and Tokyo, all of which are financial and capitalist hubs" For example, these are the locations of the world's most prestigious stock exchanges, where investors can purchase and sell shares in big firms. New York has the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), London has the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE), and Tokyo has the Nikkei. The amount of money traded in these markets is staggering. The value of shares traded in the NYSE, for example, is $19,300 billion, while that of the shares in the Philippine Stock Exchange is only $231.3 billion. Limiting the discussion of global cities to these three metropolises, however, is proving more and more restrictive. Since Sassen's book, the global economy has evolved dramatically, and any explanation of today's cities' economic influence must take into account the most recent developments. Recent critics have broadened Sassen's criteria for determining what makes a global metropolis. Despite not being as wealthy as New York, Los Angeles' Hollywood has now surpassed New York in terms of cultural importance. Furthermore, because it is home to the most dominant online companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google, San Francisco must now be considered a global city Finally, the growth of the Chinese economy has turned cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou into centers of trade and finance. The Chinese government reopened the Shanghai Stock Exchange in late 1990, and since then, it has grown own to become the fifth-largest stock market in the world. Some people regard some cities to be "global" simply because they are wonderful locations to live in. Sydney, Australia's largest city, controls the majority of the country's capital. Melbourne, however, is referred to as Sydney's rival "global city," as it is now regarded, by numerous magazines and lists, the world's "most livable city"-a place with good public transit, a strong cultural scene, and a comparatively relaxed pace of life. As a result, defining a global city might be difficult. Going beyond the simplistic distinction of global and non-global is one way to solve this problem. Rather than asking whether or not a city is a global city (a yes or no question), it is more appropriate to ask. How and to what extent are cities global? 3 Indicators for Globality So, what are the multiple attributes of a global city? The foremost characteristic is economic power. Sassen remains correct in saying that economic power largely determines which cities are global. New York may have the largest stock market in the world, but Tokyo houses the most number of corporate headquarters (613 company headquarters as compared 217 in New York, its closest competitor).98 Shanghai may have a smaller stock market compared to New York and Tokyo, but it plays a critical role in the global economic supply chain ever since China has become the manufacturing center of the world. Shanghai has the world's busiest container port, moving over 33 million container units in 2013. Economic opportunities in a global city make it attractive to talents from across the world. Since the 1970s, many of the top IT programmers and engineers from Asia have moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to become some of the key figures in Silicon Valley's technology boom. London remains a preferred destination for many Filipinos with nursing degrees. To measure the economic competitiveness of a city. The Economist Intelligence Unit has added other criteria such as market size, purchasing power of citizens, size of the middle class, and potential for growth. Based on these criteria, "tiny" Singapore is considered Asia's most competitive city because of its strong market, efficient and incorruptible government, and livability. It also houses the regional offices of many major global corporations. Global cities are also centers of authority. Washington D.C. may not be as wealthy as New York, but it is the seat of American state power. People around the world know its major landmarks: the White House, the Capitol Building (Congress), the Supreme Court, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument. Similarly, compared to Sydney and Melbourne, Canberra is a dull town with limited visitor appeal. However, being Australia's political capital, it is home to the country's highest-ranking lawmakers, bureaucrats, and policy advisers. Cities that are home to large international organizations can also be considered political hotspots. The headquarters of the United Nations is in New York, and that of the European Union is in Brussels. An influential political city near the Philippines is Jakarta, which is not just the capital of Indonesia but is also the location of the main headquarters of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Powerful political hubs exert influence on their own countries as well as on international affairs. The European Central Bank, which 4 oversees the Euro (the European Union's currency), is based in Frankfurt. A decision made in that city can, therefore, affect the political economy of an entire continent and beyond. Finally, global cities are centers of higher learning and culture A city's intellectual influence is seen through the influence of its publishing industry. Many of the books that people read are published in places such as New York, London, or Paris. The New York Times carries the name of New York City, but it is far from being a local newspaper. People read it not just across America but also all over the world. One of the reasons for the many tourists visiting Boston is because they want to see Harvard University the world's top university Many Asian teenagers are flocking to Australian cities because of the country's top English-language universities. Education is Australia's third greatest export, following only coal and iron ore but far ahead of tourism The Australian government claimed in 2015 that education alone brought in 19.2 billion Australian dollars (approximately 14 billion US dollars). We have already explained why Los Angeles, the center of the American film industry, may be considered a global city A less obvious example, however, is Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. It is so small that one can tour the entire city by bicycle in thirty minutes. It is not the home of a major stock market, and its population is rather homogenous. However, Copenhagen is now considered one of the culinary capitals of the world, with its top restaurants incommensurate with its size. Copenhagen, as the origin of "New Nordic" cuisine, has sparked numerous culinary innovations, including foraging for local ingredients in the woods. Moreover, Manchester, England, was a bleak, industrial metropolis in the 1980s. However, many prominent post-punk and New Wave bands-Joy Division, the Smiths, the Happy Mondays-hailed from this city, making it a global household name. In Southeast Asia, Singapore (again) is slowly becoming a cultural hub for the region. It now houses some of the region's top television stations and news organizations (MTV Southeast Asia and Channel News Asia). Its various art galleries and cinemas also show paintings from artists and filmmakers, respectively, from the Philippines and Thailand. In fact, it is sometimes easier to see a Filipino indie filmmaker's film in Singapore than it is in Manila! Global cities, because of their cultural power, are linked to imagination. Consider how many songs about New York have been written (Jay Z and Alicia Keys's "Empire State of Mind," Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York," and numerous songs by Simon and Garfunkel) and how these references conjure up images of a place where anything is possible- "a concrete jungle where dreams are made of," according to Alicia Keys. 5  Today, global cities become culturally diverse. In a global city, one can try cuisines from different parts of the world. Because of their large Turkish populations, for example, Berlin and Tokyo offer some of the best Turkish food one can find outside of Turkey. Manila is not very global because of the dearth of foreign residents (despite the massive domestic migration), but Singapore is deemed global because it has a foreign population of 38%. The Challenges of Global Cities Global cities conjure up images of fast-paced, exciting, cosmopolitan lifestyles, but such descriptions are lacking. Global cities also have their undersides. They can be sites of great inequality and poverty as well as tremendous violence. Like the broader processes of globalization, global cities create winners and losers. In this section, we list some "pathologies" of global cities, based on the research of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Cities can be sustainable because of their density. As Richard Florida notes: "Ecologists have found that by concentrating their populations in smaller areas, cities, and metros decreases human encroachment on natural habitats. Denser settlement patterns yield energy savings, apartment buildings, for example, are more efficient to heat and cool than detached suburban houses. " Moreover, in cities with extensive public transportation systems, people tend to drive less and thereby cut carbon emissions. It is no surprise to learn that, largely because of the city's extensive train system, New Yorkers have the lowest per capita carbon footprint in the United States. In Asia, dense global cities such as Singapore and Tokyo also have relatively low per capita carbon footprints. Not all cities, however, are as dense as New York or Tokyo. Some cities, such as Los Angeles, are sprawling metropolises with vast motorways that drive citizens to spend money on automobiles and gasoline. On the other hand, cities like Manila, Bangkok, and Mumbai are congested; they are also severely filthy due to a lack of proper public transportation and their governments' incapacity to manage their automobile sectors. More importantly, because of the sheer size of city populations across the world, it is not surprising that urban areas consume most of the world's energy. Cities only cover 2% of the world's landmass, but they consume 78% of global energy. Therefore, if carbon emissions must be cut to prevent global warming, this massive energy consumption in cities must be 6 curbed. This action will require a lot of creativity. For example, many food products travel many miles before they get to major city centers. Shipping this food through trains, buses, and even planes increases carbon emissions. Will it be possible to grow more food in cities instead? Solutions such as so-called "vertical farms" built in abandoned buildings (as is increasingly being done in New York) may lead the way towards more environmentally sustainable cities. If more food can be grown with less water in denser spaces, cities will begin to be greener. The major terror attacks of recent years have also targeted cities. Cities, especially those with global influence, are obvious targets for terrorists due to their high populations and their role as symbols of globalization that many terrorists despise. The same attributes that make them attractive to workers and migrants make them sites of potential terrorist violence. Only by looking from this perspective will we be able to understand the 9/11 attacks that brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the November 2015 coordinated attacks in Paris by zealots of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). When the real estate magnate Donald Trump became the president of the United States, security experts believed that properties around the world that carry his name may be targets of terror attacks. There are Trump Towers, for example, in places such as Istanbul and Manila. The Global City and the Poor We have consistently noted that economic globalization has paved the way for massive inequality. This phenomenon is, thus, very pronounced in cities. Some large cities, particularly those in Scandinavia, have found ways to mitigate inequality through state-led social redistribution programs. However, many cities, particularly those in developing countries, are sites of contradiction. In places such as Mumbai, Jakarta, and Manila, it is common to find gleaming buildings alongside massive shantytowns. This duality may even be seen in rich, urban cities. Poor urban enclaves on the fringes of New York and San Francisco are populated by African Americans and immigrant families who are frequently denied opportunities for a better life. They are gradually being pushed farther away from their cities' economic hubs. As a city attracts more capital and wealthier residents, real estate values rise, forcing impoverished people to transfer to less expensive locations. Gentrification is the process of displacing the poor in favor of newer, wealthier residents. Poor aboriginal Australians have been disproportionately affected by this trend in Australian cities. Gentrification caused them to migrate away from city centers, which offered 7 more jobs, more government services, better transportation, and opportunities to live in public urban housing. Poor Muslim migrants in France have been pushed out of Paris and have settled in ethnic enclaves known as banlieues. In most of the world's global cities, the middle class is also thinning out. High-paying occupations are concentrated in global cities as a result of globalization. These high earners, in turn, create a need for unskilled labor (e.g., hotel cleaners, nannies, maids, and servers) to meet their growing demands. Meanwhile, many middle-class jobs in manufacturing and business process outsourcing (e.g., call centers) are being outsourced to other countries. This hollowing out of the middle class in global cities has heightened the inequality within them. In places such as New York, there are high-rolling American investment bankers whose children are raised by Filipina maids. For some, a major global city may be paradise; but for others, it may be a tragedy. Global cities, as noted in this lesson, are sites and media of globalization. They are, therefore, material representations of the phenomenon. Through them, we see the best of globalization; they are places that create exciting fusions of culture and ideas. They are also places that generate tremendous wealth. However, they remain sites of great inequality, where the global servants serve global entrepreneurs. The question of how globalization can be made more just is partly a question of how people make their cities more just. 8  LESSON 9 Global Demography LEARNING OUTCOMES: At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:  Shed light on demographic transition as it affects global population.  Demonstrate an understanding of the global migration.  Discuss the causes and effects of global migration.  Display first-hand knowledge of the experiences of OFWs. ABSTRACTION History of man is speckled with stories of people migrating from one place to the next either in search for food, escape raiders, conquest or for pleasure. Possibly in this point in your life, some of you may have plans of pursuing a career abroad attracted by the sights and sounds of the city life. Perhaps, you may have lured by friends and families who have successfully rooted themselves in a foreign land. Such is the nature of man -- to be mobile. Demography is the study of population based on elements like age, race and sex. With the migration and unrestrained increase in the population, the natural order of things gets upset, and changes have to be made in order to offset these imbalances. For example, if people flock to the cities, more food, basic commodities and employment are required to accommodate these migrants, if the growing population is kept underfed, undernourished afflicted with sickness, the future manpower of the society may not be as effective. Lawmakers and policy makers alike consider the demography of their nation when drafting bills, acts and ordinances to be executed for the maximum benefit of the people. Countries all over the world experience the entry of foreigners at an unprecedented rate. Surveys show that more than 160 million individuals live out of their country of origin. Factors accounting for this transition can range from simple employment opportunities to flight from human rights abuses and political repression. Motivations for migration have been categorized into either the Push Factor or Pull Factor. Push Factor Survival for themselves, or for their family, is one of the most obvious 9 motives which explain migration. Escape either from man-made disasters, civil war and decline of economic opportunities threatening them of starvation can be prime motivators. They leave their land in order to secure safety for themselves because their communities can no longer sustain life for its people. To put it simply, push factors refers to causes that drive droves of people to abandon their residences. Pull Factor In highly industrialized countries, fertility levels still continue to decline posing a possible collapse in the population in the times to come. European countries suffer an aging population meaning fewer people are able to work given the circumstances. Immigration, or the movement of people in the country, may help ease the labor deficiency but not enough to solve this persistent problem. Nonetheless, it serves as a gateway for employment seekers to benefit from it. In the contrary, continents like Africa and parts of Asia with high fertility rates create emerging communities unable to cope with the demands of the population like employment, health, services, and education. People opt to leave these densely populated areas and take their chances elsewhere. Global Demographic Issues The following are listed as the leading global demographic issues facing the world today. They become problems because they are the outright consequence of globalization and uncontrolled economic growth and decline. A. Uneven Population Growth Worldwide Because of the lack of population growth control mechanisms, education, and freedom to decide for themselves, some developing countries’ populations like Niger and Tanzania tend to grow at an alarming rate. Africa has one of the highest incidents of birth rates with an average of 6.49 children per mother. It has been projected that Africa’s overall population would have exceeded Europe’s in 2050. Many developing countries in Asia rely on agriculture, as the major driving force of the economy thus having more number of children is necessary to maintain farm operation. On the contrary, residents of high-income and developed countries tend to limit their progenies to one or two. Aside from the abundant supply and selection of birth control methods, parents in this part of the world tend to focus their 10 attention to saving enough money for future needs such as medical expenses, insurances, matriculation and retirement funds to mention a few. Meaning having more than two children can become too expensive. To put it simply, there is a converse relationship between the economic level of a country and its population. In poor countries, birth rates lean towards being high whilst in rich countries, birth rates tend to decline. Though some policy makers put 11 forward solutions like one child policy, legalization of abortion and other sterilization process to restrain population, differences in belief and cultural practices make it impossible to come up with a single answer. B. Demographic Pressures on the Environment Demographers and researchers alike agree in saying that the existing and still growing number of people in the world surpasses the maximum number of inhabitants that the planet can actually sustain. Naturally, people need resources in order to survive. Resources that only nature and the environment could provide. Man, millenniums ago, discovered agriculture which enabled him to exploit the land towards his own benefit. Being able to produce food for himself eventually resulted to the increase in population. Nowadays, technology even furthered such developments in agriculture including livestock raising, creating a variety of produce, increasing the yield and producing food for consumption. However, nature has its limits and over exploiting it can have a catastrophic consequences. With the substantial use of fertilizers and other detrimental chemicals with the goal of increasing food production, land and water resources becomes polluted giving rise to a great number of global concerns. Nature is unable to heal herself because of the relentless desire of man to satisfy his needs and wants. C. Slum Urbanization Whilst globalization stirs the flow of financial capital generating income and wealth, not all individuals are given a fair share in these riches. Wealth tends to accumulate on the upper strata of the social hierarchy benefiting a specific social class of the society making upward mobility impossible and widening the gap of social inequality. So what happens when people move into cities and they don’t find jobs to support themselves, they become an addition to the people living in slum areas. These shanty towns are a common sight in areas like Manila, and places in India. D. Spread of Diseases Generation and spread of diseases and other terminal illnesses, like HIV/AIDS, also hasten keeping pace with globalization. However, international aids and programs have been organized in order to extend help and contain the further creation and circulation of an epidemic. 12 Migration Migration means crossing the boundary of a political or administrative unit for a certain minimum period (Boyle et al. 1998). It is classified as either internal migration which refers to a move from one area (a province, district or municipality) to another within one country or International migration which means crossing the frontiers which separate one of the world’s approximately 200 states from another. Many scholars argue that internal and international migrations are part of the same process, and should be analyzed together (Skeldon 1997). Migration is thus both a result and cause of development. Development leads to migration, because economic and educational improvements make people capable of seeking better opportunities elsewhere. It simply means that people from different walks of life, either for purposes of business opportunities, family affairs or even unwanted reasons, are experiencing migration as agents of cultural or political change. As history will tell us, migration has already been a practice ever since the world began. One of the reasons of migration is disparity in levels of income, employment and social well-being between differing areas. With a family to feed or responsibility to earn, the individual is keen to exert the effort to look for better jobs with better pay. Thus in his search for the greener pasture, he becomes motivated to relocated himself 13 whatever it might cause him. In his search, he will find himself in a certain neighborhood that has been the center of immigrant settlement, with significant business openings, services and convenience which are not usually found in their place of origin. Significantly, these new place houses everything, from the places of worship, ethnic groupings and socio cultural linkages, thus no new immigrant is left out because he can easily blend in. a new perspectives set in where women are likewise given the same opportunities as that of men thus female migration is accommodated as they moved in independently or as heads of households. For better understanding, the migrants come now with different criterion. (Stephen Castles, 200). 1. Temporary labor migrants – they are popularly known as overseas contract workers who migrate for a limited period in order to work and send remittances to their families at home. 2. Highly skilled and business migrants – they are the people with special skills and qualification who seek employment through international labor markets for scarce skills. 3. Irregular migrants (also known as documented or illegal migrants): people who enter a country, usually in search of employment, without the necessary documents and permits. 4. Refugees – is a person residing outside his or her country of nationality, who is unable or unwilling to return because of a ‘well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion’ (1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees) 5. Asylum-seekers – people who move across borders in search of protection. 6. Forced migration – this included not only refugees and asylum-seekers but also people forced to move by environmental catastrophes or development projects. 7. Family members (also known as family reunion or family reunification migrants) – migration to join people who have already entered an immigration country under one of the above categories. 14  8. Return migrants: people who return to their countries or origin after a period in another country. Migration may assist or hinders development Remittances are considered one of the many massive contributions to the national accounts of many emigration countries. Through the money that they are sending, the government earns a bulk that helps finance the development investment of the country. Emigrants are given the opportunity to travel aboard and to be able to learn other people’s culture, history and environment. They became adaptive with the place where they are in and were able to obtain additional knowledge and insights which cannot be learn thru books but only by interactions. Countries are mandated to observe international cooperation to help ensure orderly migration and to heighten the involvement of migration to development. One on the main disadvantage brought by migration is the “brain drain”. Brain drain is a problem for many poor countries losing skilled workers to richer countries. The most skilled and most talented workers of a certain less developed country are bound to look for better job opportunities or employment in developed countries considering work guarantee and better lives conditions for himself and that of his family. However, the country where he came from is to settle with those who are left as its workforce but cannot do anything because it has no remedy to the situation. It is to add further that the regulation of emigration from less-developed countries is often ineffective thus allows exploitative employment and abuses. Many of the emigrants has stories to tell when it deals with abuses, cruelty and violence. Crimes like women and child trafficking, smuggling, drug related cases and other forms of crimes are being charged to them or they became victims of such. For these reasons, the government must create and have strong teeth for its implementations of policies and laws that prevent abuses or exploitation of their citizens while they are abroad. If the government will be able implement the policies and laws, it will guarantee the safety and well-being of its citizens. In addition to these, the government must provide assistance in cases of death, illness, accidents and other similar cases of same nature to its citizens. It is a way to show the gratitude of the government as to help these emigrants are doing for the economic growth of the country. 15  Many of the emigrants who finds good paying employment abroad still wishes to come home to be with their families. The money acquired or have been saved from work abroad used as an investment for a new business or enterprise. However, many countries do not have policies to assist returning migrants to start anew in their own country. Usually, they are left on their own on how to manage their own affairs. Some become successful but majority suffers from major setback. They will settle in finding a job but face difficulty in finding a job commensurate with the skills they have acquired abroad. Thus, will eventually decide to go back abroad and leave again their families. To avoid such chain, the government should institutionalize a plan of action that will benefit the returning emigrants, for them to be given better options in staying in country than going back. 16